


The Way The Story Ends

by ranchelle



Series: Chasing Myths [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Burning, Established Relationship, Firebird Keith, Laith, Luna McClain, M/M, Phoenix Keith, Vision of death, dying of old age, it's just a vision of the future, klance, mer lance, not tragic, water witch!Luna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 12:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12984171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ranchelle/pseuds/ranchelle
Summary: A short drabble in the Chasing Myths universe.Lance is Mer and Keith is a Firebird.Lance's youngest sister, Luna, sees a vision of how the story ends if the Universe is willing to give her brother the happiness he deserves.





	The Way The Story Ends

**Author's Note:**

> When I worked on the last few chapters of Chasing Myths, this scene and imagery of how Lance and Keith ends always come to me. It's sad and yet not angst because they are both old and ready to leave. Together. If it helps, imagine Lance being a hundred years old.

  
Luna stands hip deep in the water, brushing away the foam that stirs up as the sea churns around her. As a water-witch versed in scrying, she hears the whispers of the sea strongest when the moon is high.

  
The waters mirror the sky, and when she takes a breath, the horizon changes, stretching infinitely as the water turns into a vast, star-filled sky. The chill of the water embraces her as visions of her family come to her. She turns the visions over in her hands, flipping through them as if they are pages of an album, letting her hands fall when she sees a promising vision of her brother, Lance.

It is a vision of a future, one of many that may come to be.  
  
*

The sun is setting.

Her brother has come home, hair more silver than brown, eyes every bit as dark and bright as the day he left. He has a scar interrupting his brow, and Luna chuckles thinking how mad he must have been getting a scar on his perfect skin. He's wearing Earth clothing, something he looks almost too comfortable in.

When he smiles, she can see the wrinkles set deep around his eyes and lips, and knows he is much older than he looks.

His mate sits beside him on the sand, watching the waves with their hands entwined. They are done with space, done with everything. They don't need words. A life of action has left Lance at peace with not speaking. All he can hear is a song, an indescribable, formless song that grows stronger, stirring a hunger in him that makes him feel more alive than he's felt in years.

Little by little, he lets the sounds of the waves carry him away until there's nothing left but a deep, aching desire to go _home_.

He sits, his ears perked as if listening attentively.  
  
His mate looks a little younger than him, dark hair lightly silvered, were-beast ears sitting on the sides of his head in place of rounded ones. He's wearing a faded green jacket, patched and worn. He doesn't spare a single glance to the sea, instead watching only Lance, silent as they hold hands. Lance doesn't let go even as his mind is gradually consumed by the sound of the sea, unable to look away from the water.

The sun sits on the edge of the horizon.  
  
  
Lance stands, his will fading away as he closes his eyes to listen, swaying to the siren song only he can hear. Keith holds on, leaning into him, and they look as if they are dancing to the undulating rhythm of the waves.  
  
The sea is lit by a golden hue, and Lance opens his eyes again. Keith is in his line of sight and for a second, he breaks out of his trance to gaze into violet eyes. Keith smiles and presses a chaste kiss to his lips, and Lance smiles in return.  
  
The call of the sea is strong and he succumbs once more, letting go of Keith's hands and wading into the waters.

Keith watches as the last of his mate disappears under the waves.  
  
He takes a single step towards the sea and catches fire. Golden flames turn a crimson red as his wings and tail fan out, the heat making the last vestiges of daylight waver. His form is clear and full, the red engulfing his body until his human form can hardly be seen.  
  
From a distance, Luna thinks he looks like a painted phoenix from the legends of old.

A silvery-blue merman flips out of the water, chirping and trilling to express his inarticulate joy to be home at last.

The firebird circles over the water lazily, watching the merman play. The sun dips halfway below the horizon and Lance tires, his trills weary and soft. The waves wash over him, a soothing lullaby with a steady beat.

Lance reaches his hand out of the water and his fingers loses their form, falling away like water and bubbles.

The sky glows its last as his form turns translucent, a faint blue glow ebbing from his scales as they dissolve, bubbles of blue and silver catching the dying light of day.

The firebird watches on, and an outstretched, formless hand reaches out of the sea one last time. He reaches out and red fire latches onto the foam. The flame burns for a second and dies.

The sea churns.

Like the old tales, the Mer return to the cool embrace of the waters they came from, never to return.

All that is left of her brother is foam upon the waves.

The firebird lingers, and Luna sees in his eyes the moment he realises that his mate is truly gone.

The flames grow brighter, hotter, the darkened sky lit by the fierce light he has become. He flies higher, still circling the spot where Lance has disappeared.  
  
Drops of fire fall into the sea, the water rising up like a curtain as the firebird beats his wings, his movement more frantic with each passing moment without his mate.

Gone is his former calm demeanor as he cries, a sobbing, choked sound.  
  
The sound of the waves easily drowns him out. She hears her brother's name from his lips as he calls out, again and again until his voice hoarsens.

High in the sky, his flames waver as the edges of his feathers turn ash-like.  
  
A broken cry tears through the sky.

He burns crimson and bright, washing out the darkness around him like a dying star.

Luna watches as ashes fall, scattered by the swirling breeze across the waves to join the sea foam upon it.  
  
  
*  
  
The vision ends and she opens her eyes to gaze upon the reflection of the moon and the faint glow of a thousand stars.

This is what her brother desires most: a long life with his mate and at the end of his journey, to hear the siren call of the sea and come home.

She puts her hands together and whispers a fervent prayer to the Universe.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'll edit this over the next week, so if you want to read less typos/errors or a slightly more edited version, wait a week, I guess? :P
> 
> I'm really busy with a Keith costume-making this week and I'm procrastinating by writing this...no regrets eheheh. XD It's my 2nd Keith costume and I'm eager to finish it and share it with everyone~~~ I'll put my costume updates later this week, so check out my twitter/tumblr if you're free! (I'll probably reopen my tictail shop soon as well for some of my prints and customised Voltron bracelets too~)
> 
> I have happier side stories in the works too but it'll take a while to finish...hopefully not too long.... Here, have a teaser for one of them:
> 
> 5 Times Keith's Galra Is Showing (or something)  
> Lance notices that Keith has some...interesting tendencies.
> 
> Dating Keith meant that he got to hold hands with him, and Keith would sit next to him during movie nights with the group, and in the dimmed lights, they squeezed onto the sofa together, Keith sitting in the side pressed up against Lance.
> 
> During one of the reruns they were watching, Keith was holding Lance's hand and playing with his knuckles, then sniffing at his fingers, turning his palm over like he was exploring it. Lance found it terribly endearing that Keith explored his hand with so much fascination like a dog finding a new toy.
> 
> Then Keith licked his hand.
> 
> It wasn't really wet or sloppy. it was just a very light lick, like he was testing if lance's hand was edible.
> 
> Then he sniffed it. Then he licked again.
> 
> Lance froze, turning to look at Keith. His eyes could see clearly what Keith was doing. And he realised Keith wasn't even doing it consciously.


End file.
